You do realise this may have been previously true, it isn't necessarlity anymore. The klingon cruisers have the same hull and shield cap as their fed counter parts.

It's fine that they're the same for cruisers (specifically the Negh'Var has the same hull rating as fed cruisers, however the Vor'cha does not). Fed escorts on the other hand (who would presumably also have a console from the Defiant, as has been suggested), have higher shield ratings than the raptors, and much higher than birds of prey.

When you take a given advantage from one side and make it ubiquitous on the other side as well, then some reassessment of balance needs to be made. That's all I'm saying. I'd love to drop a cloak on my Prometheus as well, I just think that that it needs to be done intelligently, so that both sides still bother to show up for the party.

From a gameplay standpoint the cloak is far more valuable then a small advantage in shields for escorts. Also BoP not only have battle cloak, and a incredible turn rate, but the total freedom of BO set-up that allows them to do some things other escorts wish they could do(which got almost all the sci abilities nerfed to the ground because of them, not that some didn't need a slight nerf or tweak).

From a gameplay standpoint the cloak is far more valuable then a small advantage in shields for escorts. Also BoP not only have battle cloak, and a incredible turn rate, but the total freedom of BO set-up that allows them to do some things other escorts wish they could do(which got almost all the sci abilities nerfed to the ground because of them, not that some didn't need a slight nerf or tweak).